A New Life
by Bright-Eyed Athena
Summary: A girl finds herself with no memory of herself, or how she ended up in the Xavier Institute. She struggles to come to terms with her unusual mutation, and finally finds her place in the world. Please read and review. Now edited and improved!
1. Her Forgotten Past

AN- This is my first story, so please, be kind yet constructive. Thanks.

14/7/09- This is an edited and improved version of my first chapter, I will be doing this for all of my chapters thus far. The storyline is essentially the same, but with minor improvements. Enjoy!

Normally the streets of New York would be filled with people hurrying in every direction, but darkness had fallen some time ago and what people now remained were of the unsavoury kind. Amongst them wandered a 17 year old girl, she was short for her age, with long matted brown hair and sad brown eyes, that were constantly fighting off waves of exhaustion. She had a thin frame, and wore a pair of old jeans, that were worn with holes, as well as a faded red shirt. Describing her as lost would be a gross understatement because she had absolutely no recollection of her life before waking up on the ground of a deserted alley a few hours ago.

Dragging her tired feet, the girl slumped over to a nearby gutter situated under a flittering street lamp and all but collapsed onto the ground. She was in an old street, with bricked up stores, graffiti and signs of vandalism everywhere, it was as ordinary and exactly the same as the many other streets she had wandered down that night. She wrapped her thin arms around her knees and leant her head against them, allowing her long hair to drape in front of her face. Silent tears flowed down her cheeks, feelings of hopelessness and misery overwhelming her. She was sure that she had never felt this alone, even if she couldn't remember it. She shivered in the cold night breeze, and hugged herself tighter, trying to retain what little warmth she had. The girl searched her memory for the umpteenth time, struggling to bring to mind anything from her past, and for the umpteenth time, she found nothing.

"Can I help you love?" a deep male voice asked. She looked up into the unkind face of a man standing over her, his sneer chilling her to the core.

"N-n-o", she stuttered, more from fear than from the cold night air. She shakily pulled herself to her feet, slowly backing away from the man, but he grabbed her arm roughly, preventing her escape, and gripping it hard enough to leave bruises.

"But I want to help you. I have something here that will ease your pain", he cackled menacingly. His hot breath washed over her and she could smell the alcohol in it.

"No, please... I don't want anything... I don't have any money", she replied, uselessly pulling on her arm.

The man tightened his grip and smiled evilly, looking at her in a way that made her skin crawl, "I'm sure there's something you can do for me in payment..."

The girl shuddered and desperately tried to pull her arm free, as the man laughed at the fear he could see in her eyes.

"Please..." She begged him, but again he laughed. There was no one around who would answer her calls for help so she silently prayed, 'Please someone, anyone, help me!'

The man dragged her into a deserted alleyway, as the girl's tears flowed faster. She fought him, using her nails to create deep scratches in his arms. Further down in the alleyway she saw a faint black shape in the darkness, it seemed to scamper along the ground. The girl gasped and fought with renewed strength against the man, trying to back out onto the street, but he had not seen the black shape, and thought nothing of it. He shoved her viciously onto the ground, laughing as she cried out when her arm hit the pavement awkwardly. It was then that he noticed the black shape bearing down on the two of them at an incredible speed.

The girl looked up from her ground-level view and her eyes widened as the shape became more distinct and she realised what it was. Squeaking as they ran, the hundreds of black rats continued on their path, not shying at the sight of humans. The girl screamed, and curled herself into a tight ball on the ground, cradling her sore arm and already imagining she felt their tiny claws and teeth crawling over her. To her surprise, nothing happened; she felt neither claws nor teeth anywhere on her body. Daring to look up, she saw the hundreds of the rats chasing after the fleeing man. He ran for his life, screaming at the top of his lungs. The girl shuddered and looked around her around her, noticing that much like Moses parting the Red Sea, when the squeaking horde reached her; they parted and went around her small body. The girl watched, terrified, as their furry bodies passed merely inches away from her own, yet they continued after the screaming man, completely ignoring her.

This strange phenomenon was too much for the girl to handle; she had no memory of who she was, what she was doing here and could not explain what had just happened. Her brain began to shut down to allow her to come to terms with the events of the night.

As she escaped into the blessed peace of the darkness, the girl thought she could hear several people talking as if in union, "Attack the human man, and protect the human girl. Attack the human man, and protect the human girl." They repeated this over and over, chanting it to themselves until she could hear their voices faded also.

AN- Please review. I will write more chapters if I get people's reviews, I promise the X-Men will come into the story very soon.

Hope everyone enjoyed the new and improved version!


	2. At the Institute

AN- Thanks for the reviews, keep it up!

The girl had been drifting in the darkness for so long it had become familiar and almost comforting. It meant she didn't have to deal with the world or attempt to answer one of the many questions about herself that were a mystery. However, when she started to see light piercing the darkness, it was almost a relief, she didn't want to drift forever. Any shapes she could make out were blurry, but becoming more distinct by the second as her eyes focused. Everything around her was white, blindingly so and very cold. Finally, her eyes adjusted enough for the girl to see properly, and what she did see sent a chill of fear through her thin frame.

The girl was sitting in a room that she assumed was in a hospital, for medical equipment and tools were situated within it. Everything was white, except the table she was lying on, which was grey. There was a line-up of medical instruments on a table to her side, which made her quiver in fear. The tired girl swung her legs over the edge of the table she was lying on and attempted to stand up. But she was dizzy and she lost her balance, tumbling onto the cold hard floor. For the second time, she melted into the darkness as her vision faded.

When the girl woke up this time, she could hear voices softly speaking to each other. She kept her eyes tightly closed, so she could hear what they were saying.

"...and when I came in I found her passed out on the ground. She must have tried to stand up and passed out again. Thanks for helping me get her back on the table." A female voice spoke softly. The girl could hear the sharp click of heels, as the woman walked away to her right.

"No problem", a male voice answered from her other side, "I hope she's going to be ok, she was light as a feather and all skin and bone, I could feel each and every one of her ribs."

"She is highly malnourished and dehydrated, which would explain the fainting. She also has quite a few bruises that look recent as well as a fractured wrist, but she should be ok with some proper medical treatment." The woman answered the man; the girl heard the scratch of a pen as she scribbled down some notes. "She should be coming to any mo-", the woman suddenly paused, "She's awake."

The girl felt a cool and reassuring hand on her forehead and another checking the pulse on the inside of her good wrist. "Can you hear me?" the woman asked, "Can you tell me what your name is?"

After hours of feeling hopeless, exhausted, hungry, desperately thirsty and lost, having no memory, being attacked by a sleazy man and witnessing hundreds of black rats rushing at her, the poor girl was not ready to trust anyone, no matter how kind they might seem. Attempting to throw off her light-headedness, the girl sprang off the table and crouched in a corner of the room, putting her back against a wall. She held her arms out in front of her in a defensive gesture, trying not to show how much her wrist hurt by biting her lip.

"Leave me alone." She begged, her eyes darting wildly, as she searched for a way out of the white room. It was a typical medical room, with matching white benches and cupboards along the walls as well as medical machines that she could only guess as to the purpose of. She noticed that there was a door a few feet to her right.

"It's ok, we're here to help you", the woman said. She was tall and very beautiful with dark red hair. She had a kind face that looked concerned, that made the girl want to trust her but she didn't allow herself the option, people could not be trusted. The man standing next to her was wearing red-tinted sunglasses indoors, he was handsome and young, but she could tell by looking at the two adults that they were a couple, it was in the way, he stood slightly in front of the woman, as if to protect her. The woman held her hands out in front of her, in an effort to show the girl she meant no harm.

"Where am I?" the girl asked, panic in her eyes as she slowly inched her way towards the door, whilst trying to keep their attention of what she was saying, not what she was doing.

"You're at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. It's a place where mutants like us can feel safe." The woman replied, obviously trying to calm her down.

"I'm not a mutant! What are you talking about?" the girl was incredibly scared and confused, she just wanted to get away from these people, they were obviously crazy.

From the doorway beside her, a woman with long, pure white hair and dark skin walked in, "How is sh-" she began to say, but the girl in question darted past her, and ran for her life down the hallway.


	3. Into the Woods

AN- sorry for the massive cliff hanger, and then not updating for a while. Please accept my apologies!

17/7/09- updated this chapter and the one before. Hope you like the new and improved versions!

Adrenaline coursing through her veins, the girl ran down the hallway as fast as her legs would allow. The end of the hallway led to an elevator, she stabbed at the button, fearfully glancing behind her to see if anyone was chasing her. The elevator doors pinged open and she darted into it, pushing at random the first button she saw. As the doors were closing she could see the man and the woman running towards her down the hallway. Luckily, the elevator doors closed well before they reached her. The girl breathed a sigh of relief.

The elevator moved swiftly upwards and when the doors opened the girl darted quickly into a hallway lined with doors, picture frames, brightly lit lamps and small tables. Picking a direction at random, the girl continued running, trying to listen behind her at the same time.

Distantly she heard a bell ring, and then teenagers of all ages, boys and girls, started filling out of the doors, glancing curiously at her as she ran past. As more teens filled the hallway, it became harder to run. The girl began sobbing, she didn't know who these people were and she hoped that they were too surprised by the sight of her to consider stopping her from escaping. In between dodging the teens and looking behind her she nearly cannoned into another girl, of around the same age. But instead of crashing into her, she seemed to move right through her. The girl, stared, confused behind her, but forgot all about it when she saw the people from the medical room chasing her. The man with the red tinted sunglasses was in the lead and gaining.

Catching a glimpse of a clear sky through an open door, the girl put on an extra burst of speed and ran through a large entrance way. Once she was outside, the girl bolted across the grass and made for some nearby trees. Once she was under the cover of the first few lines of trees, the girl stopped and hid behind the trunk of a large tree.

She panted hard, desperately trying to catch her breath. She peered around the trunk back towards the building she had just escaped from. She could see the woman with the bright red hair and the man with the red sunglasses; they were standing just outside the door peering into the trees. The girl prayed they would not chase her any further. They talked briefly before the woman headed back inside and the man started making his way in her general direction. The girl gasped and began running again, going further and further into the woods.

The girl had been running for what seemed like hours. She had stopped hearing any signs of pursuit quite some time ago, and slowed to a walk. She trudged slowly, dragging her feet and hanging her head. The sun had gone down about half an hour ago and she was finding it very difficult to see. She was continually tripping over tree roots and nearly falling into small holes.

Finally, she spotted a large pile of leaves and collapsed on top of them, utterly exhausted. She began shivering; it was a cold night and her scant clothing offered no warmth. But, she had no energy left to find somewhere warmer, the pile of leaves would have to do.

As she lay on the ground, her eyelids slowly began to close of their own accord. Before she fell asleep, the girl saw a number of dark, furry shapes appear from behind some trees and quickly pad over to her. She was too tired to think, yet she wasn't afraid of them. She heard someone say in a deep, gruff voice, 'Protect our pack-sister'. The last thing she knew before she fell asleep was that a number of warm, furry bodies were lying against her own. She smiled and ran her hand through their warm fur, before she drifted off into the darkness.

AN- I apologise if there are any weird gaps in this chapter, I was using notepad to type this on. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! :)

17/7/09- I have now fixed all weird gaps in my chapter so that you can now enjoy it weird-gap free! Please review, and let me know what you think.


	4. In Wolverine's Arms

AN- Last time I updated my story it received 47 hits and I only have 6 reviews. Am I the only one, or does this not add up??? Reviews keep me writing people! They are also very much appreciated! So please, please, PLEASE review! Phew... now that THAT'S over with, I can continue with chapter 4...

20/7/09- updated and improved version-read and review please! :D

The girl slowly awoke to a gentle swaying motion. She could barely keep her eyes open because she was so weak from hunger and exhaustion. She could feel the sun on her face, warming her. The swaying motion continues, and she realises that she is being carried. The arms around her are strong and warm, yet hold her gently as if she was a kitten. The person carrying her is even careful not to jostle her fractured wrist, which was beginning to ache. For the first time in days, she feels safe, and the swaying motion gently rocks her back to sleep.

This time it is the murmur of low voices that wakes the girl, she is still being carried, but she now guesses that she is inside because she can no longer feel the sun on her face.

"Oh good, you found her Logan," said a familiar female voice, "we were getting worried."

"Where was she?" asked a second voice, this one male, and sounding distinctly annoyed.

"A couple of miles into the woods, she was passed out on the ground. I nearly had to fight a pack of wolves for her too." This voice, gruff and male, belonged to the man carrying her. He smelled like cigars and beer. The other man snorted at the last comment.

"I'm pretty surprised you didn't find her one-eye," the man carrying her continued, "you were out there looking for her, for what, five hours? And it's taken me...oh, 45 minutes?" He sounded cocky and sure of himself.

Before the other man could retort, the woman interrupted them.

"Well, the main thing is you found her; I don't think she would have lasted much longer out there in her condition." The woman's voice again. "Now, stop bickering and take her down to the med lab..."

The voices faded as the girl drifted back into unconsciousness.

The next time the girl awoke, she felt very different. She no longer felt exhausted or thirsty or weak. But she still felt hungry and terribly frightened. She opened her eyes and sighed, she was back inside the same medical room, lying on the same table but this time someone had covered her in a warm blanket. Slowly this time and minding her sore arm, she pulled herself into a seated position and stood up. This was obviously a big mistake as she clutched her head in her hands, and leaned against the table for support.

"It's good to see that you're awake," said a bald man in a wheelchair as he entered the room. "My name is Professor Xavier and this is a safe place for mutants, you don't have to feel scared here."

The girl flinched when the man spoke but she did not reply. Behind the Professor, the woman with red hair entered with a tray of food. It smelled great but the girl refused to look at it. She suspected that there was something in it, to calm her down or put her back to sleep, she wasn't sure how, but she could smell it in the food.

"I'm Dr Jean Grey," said the woman, "I expect you're feeling pretty hungry." She indicated towards the tray of food.

The girl looked at the tray but refused to eat it, she wasn't sure if she could trust these people. They kept saying that they were mutants and that she was too, but it couldn't possibly be true. She wasn't a mutant. Was she?

"I know you don't remember your past or what your name is but I hope that's something I can help you with," said the Professor.

The girl gasped, how could he have known that?

_I'm a mutant too. _This voice came from inside her head. _I have a telepathic ability; I can read people's thoughts. I hope that you will allow me to help you._

It was the Professor, it had to be! The voice sounded just like him. She bit her lip, mulling over the implications of him actually being a mutant. Did this mean she was one too?

Seeing she didn't want to eat, the Professor frowned but indicated towards the door behind him, "Why don't we go upstairs and we can show you to your room?" The girl still didn't trust him but she would use any excuse to get out of the medical room, it gave her the creeps. The three of them walked out of the medical room and used the elevator to go to the upper levels of the building. The girl stood as far away from the two adults as she could, keeping her head down. When they exited the elevator, the Professor led them down a hallway, the girl reluctantly following. She could see outside through the windows they walked past on one side of the hallway. She looked at the two adults again, maybe if she distracted them she could try to escape again. And this time she would not be caught. There was no way she was going back into that medical room.

The Professor stopped in front of one of the doors, "This will be your room, you're roommate should finish her class soon." Dr Jean Grey opened the door and led the girl inside. It contained two beds on opposite sides of the room, nightstands, a wardrobe and a dressing table which was already cluttered with one girl's things. The girl wrapped her arms around herself and sat down on the empty bed, staring stonily at the floor. She wished they would leave her alone for a minute, and then she could get out through the window.

"Ah, here's your roommate now," said the Professor, "this is Rebecca."

AN- 20/7/09- As soon as I'm done updating I promise I'll put up a new chapter! Why don't you review and tell me what you think of the improved chapters? :D


	5. Meeting the Mutants

AN-Thanks for the reviews, please keep them up! A gold star to everyone who reviews this chapter! :D

21/7/09- updated and edited this chapter. New chapter coming soon!

"I'm Rebecca, your new roommate," said the girl who walked in. She was roughly the same age with short blonde hair and bright green eyes. At 5 foot 7 she was slender and very pretty with a kind smile that reached her eyes.

The girl continued to stare at the ground and refused to acknowledge her new roommate. Rebecca looked quizzically at the Professor and Jean, who silently motioned for Rebecca to join them in the hallway. The three mutants talked in low voices but the girl could still hear what they were saying.

"Is she alright?" asked Rebecca.

"We think she's still in a state of shock, she hasn't spoken since Logan brought her back from the woods," replied Jean.

"Would you be kind enough to look after her?" asked the Professor, "Try to get her to eat something and show her around, maybe introduce her to a couple of people her age. She's been through a lot, and it may help her to calm down and talk to us about it."

"Sure." The girl could hear the concern in Rebecca's voice.

"Please let us know if she still isn't eating," said Jean, "we may have to sedate her and feed her intravenously until she's a bit stronger and no longer in a state of shock."

The girl shuddered; no way was she going to be sedated.

Rebecca walked back into the room and smiled at her new roommate. "Do you want to grab something to eat with me?" she asked.

When she received no reply, she continued, "How about a shower then? I can lend you some of my clothes."

The girl thought this over, surely it couldn't hurt to accept a shower, maybe once she was feeling refreshed she could think about getting away from here. She gave a quick nod and followed Rebecca into the bathroom attached to their room.

The girl emerged from the bathroom half an hour later, her long hair washed and dripping wet. She didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but she felt much better after a long hot shower. Rebecca had lent her a green t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants as well as some white sneakers. She decided that curling up on her bed was the safest option for now, and proceeded to do so. She lay on her back and starred at the ceiling, hoping that the other girl would leave her alone now. No such luck.

"Hey, feeling hungry now?" asked Rebecca, she came to sit beside the girl on her bed. "I make a mean sandwich you know." The girl could almost feel the warm smile on the Rebecca's face. Hoping that her roommate would leave her alone, the girl shook her head, but said nothing.

"Ok, how about we go for a walk? I'll give you a tour of the mansion and maybe we can go sit outside or something." The girl liked the idea of being outside, she felt too cooped up inside the mansion, and maybe this could be her big chance to escape again. With a sigh, she rolled over and got up, and following behind Rebecca as she led her through the hallways.

Rebecca kept up an almost constant chatter during the tour, about where things were, the mutants she was friends with, giving her tips about the teachers, as well as telling the girl about her own mutation, "I can walk on any surface, for instance, up walls, on water, the outside of a high rise, and I can also become invisible, which is pretty useful when you're _not_ on the inside of a window on the 55th floor of a skyscraper." Rebecca chuckled to herself, clearly reminiscing. "I used to do a fair amount of breaking and entering before the Institute took me in."

The girl glanced sceptically at Rebecca, she could barely believe that this pretty, kind girl could have ever been involved in any sort of criminal activity, however she kept her thoughts to herself and continued following her roommate around the mansion.

Rebecca ended the tour with the kitchen, by this time the girl was exhausted from being dragged around the mansion and feeling a little dizzy from lack of food. There was already a small group of teenagers sitting in the kitchen snacking on sandwiches and chatting loudly. They stopped talking when Rebecca and the girl walked in and called out greetings. The girl wondered if they were all mutants too, she guessed that they must be.

"Hey Bec!" said one girl, she had dark brown hair with a single section at the front coloured white. She was covered in clothing that showed very little of her skin, even wearing elbow length gloves.

"Hey guys," Rebecca replied, "this is my new roommate." She indicated the girl standing behind her. The girl frowned at the floor; she didn't want to be introduced to anyone. When could they go outside? She had already worked out that she was going to make a run for it, she was sure that there was little Rebecca could do to prevent her from escaping. Rebecca continued with the introductions, "This is Rogue," she said pointing to the girl with the white streak in her hair, "Bobby," she pointed at a cute guy sitting next to Rogue with his arm wrapped around her, he had light brown hair and gave her a friendly nod. "Kitty," Rebecca indicated a younger girl with long brown hair who smiled at her and gave a small wave. "And John." The last guy sitting next to Kitty muttered a hello; he had short brown hair spiked up and a bored expression on his face.

"I'll make you a sandwich, I bet you're hungry." Rebecca went to the counter and got out the ingredients for a ham sandwich. The girl stood awkwardly where she was. She didn't want to talk to these people. She looked longingly out the window; she was so close to being out in the open air again.

"So you must be new here? When did you arrive? What's your name?" asked Kitty, a kind smile on her face.

The girl continued starring out the window in silence, pretending not to have heard her. Rebecca jumped in before the silence became too awkward, "She's not feeling too well, I think we might go outside and see if that can cheer her up." Rebecca handed her a plate containing a ham sandwich and steered the girl towards the back door.

Once outside, the girl instantly felt better, she was sick of being cooped up inside and was glad not to have people staring at her anymore. She sat down on a nearby bench and put the plate containing the sandwich down next to her, without touching it. It felt nice to feel the sun on her face and she nearly forgot about her plans to run away again. Nearly. As soon as Rebecca left her alone, she was going to leave, just run for it, and hope for the best.

Startling her, she heard a whining from underneath her. The girl was up like a shot, looking towards the source of the noise, as was Rebecca who had just taken a seat next to her. Underneath the bench they could see a small sand-brown coloured dog, who looked to be a jack russell terrier. He was looking hungrily at the abandoned ham sandwich, giving the girls 'puppy dog eyes'.

_Are you going to eat that?_

"No, you can have it," said the girl, her voice shy and barely audible. The girl took the ham sandwich and broke it into smaller pieces. She knelt down to feed it to the starving dog that had crept out from underneath the bench.

Rebecca was looking at the girl in amazement; she had spoken for the first time that day.

The girl watched the small dog wolf down the sandwich in a matter of seconds with a smile on her face. The terrier then put his front paws on her lap and reached up to wash her face with his tongue.

_You're different from other humans. But that's ok, I like you._

"I like you too," the girl replied with a small laugh as he continued washing her face.

The Professor watched this scene from his office window, his forehead creased in thought.

AN- You are only one edited chapter away from a brand shiny new one! So hang in there!


	6. New Best Friend

AN- Thanks for all the reviews, keep them up! If anyone has seen Hotel for Dogs (an awesome movie!) my dog is the same breed as Friday.

21/7/09- Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. Special shout-out goes to Scrappy9893 who kept me the going with editing when I wanted to roll over and give up. 

Rebecca was sitting on the bench outside the mansion with a half stunned/half amused expression on her face. She was watching the girl playing with the dog they had found underneath the bench. It was an adorable dog, rolling on the ground to have its belly scratched by the two girls, licking her roommate's face and even playing fetch with a stick they had found.

But most of all, this dog was a miracle. Her roommate was _talking _to it. Rebecca could see that she felt comfortable with this dog and was starting to open up. To top that all off she was actually smiling. The girl had a beautiful smile; it lit up her whole face from within. Rebecca could tell that she had not smiled in a long time. She knew that this would be good for her. She headed back into the kitchen to grab a glass of water but stayed near the window where she could keep an eye on the girl and the dog.

Jean Grey walked into the kitchen, "Oh there you are, Rebecca. I've been looking everywhere for you. Just wondering how our guest is doing."

"She's just outside." Rebecca replied, gesturing out the window. "I haven't gotten her to eat anything yet but she did have a shower. It's really strange, she didn't want to talk to anyone and I could tell she was itching to leave but when we found that cute dog it changed her. She's happier, and she's actually talking to it. Now if I could just get her to eat, everything would be perfect."

Jean came to stand next to Rebecca and gazed outside the window. She smiled, seeing the terrier lick the girl's face and the girl actually laughing. The dog seemed to give her a bit of energy, although she still looked considerably weaker than she had that morning.

"Well, if she doesn't eat soon, we may well have to take her back down to the med lab," said Jean, "Although I don't really want to, I know it will just make her more afraid of us." Her brow creased in thought as she pondered the situation. "But that dog really does seem to give her a bit of confidence..." Suddenly, Jean had a bright idea. She turned to the counter behind her and made two sandwiches. She then walked outside towards the girl and her dog. Curious, Rebecca followed her.

"Hello," said Jean as they approached the girl, "I see you've made a new friend, who's this?" She set the two sandwiches down on the bench and knelt down to give the dog a scratch behind his ears. He barked happily and proceeded to lick Jean's hands.

The girl looked at the dog, "Sphinx", she grinned. Her voice was shy and quiet, but Jean was glad she was saying anything at all.

"Sphinx?" Jean asked questioningly. Without a prompt, Sphinx lay down but with his front paws out, in a half sitting position. Exactly like the pose that the real Sphinx in Egypt was in. Jean laughed, "Oh yes, I see it now. Well, I've made you two some sandwiches, I can tell that Sphinx is hungry." She handed them the plates and held her breath. The girl accepted the plates, all her attention on her dog. She gave him one of the sandwiches which he promptly wolfed down; she grinned and patted his back, unconsciously eating her own sandwich. Jean grinned, she had had a feeling that the way to the girl's stomach was through her dog's. Now if she could get the girl to have a few proper meals, she would be right as rain.

"Why don't we go inside? You can bring Sphinx with you," said Jean, "I know the Professor would like to talk to you."

The girl nodded, barely paying attention to what Jean was saying, all her attention was focused on her new best friend. The three of them headed back into the mansion, with Sphinx following close on the girl's heels, his claws clicking on the floorboards.

AN- sorry about the short chapter guys! It's kind of a filler, but I felt like leaving it there was a good cliffy too! I also wanted to tell this scene from Rebecca and Jean's point of view.

21/7/09- I know, I know, you wanted a new chapter but instead you got this one, with like 200 more words. Well guess what? There will be a new chapter coming to a fan fiction page near you VERY soon! And yes, Sphinx is here to stay! Isn't he adorable? *scratches Sphinx's tummy*


	7. Finally, a Name

AN- Here it is, my new chapter! I know it's been a while but I've been editing my other chapters. If you haven't looked at them in a while, go back and check them out. All of them are a bit longer now, and include more detail; some parts have been changed or edited out. The story is still essentially the same though. Enjoy this chapter and feel free to review and let me know what you think!

Jean and the girl, with Sphinx following close behind, entered the Professor's office. The Professor, from came out from behind his desk and indicated with a smile that they should both be seated. His office was both professional looking and homely at the same time. It had vast bookshelves filled with different sized books. There was his large desk and two chairs in front of it, but also spacious couches and armchairs for guests to relax in. The Professor came out from behind his desk and indicated with a smile that they should both be seated. When the girl sat down, Sphinx jumped up and sat in her lap; from there she could run her fingers through his fur and scratch behind his ears. Jean sat next to her, a comforting presence.

"Welcome. I'm glad to see that you have settled in here at the mansion. And welcome to you, too Sphinx," said the Professor, "Can you tell me anything about yourself?"

The girl bit her lip and searched within herself, as she had done many times since waking up in the alleyway. Again she came up with nothing, not a single trace of her past. She shook her head at the Professor, a sombre look in her eyes.

"I see. Well that's something I hope you will allow me to help you with. As I mentioned earlier I am a telepath, I'm able to read people's minds. Jean here is telekinetic, which means she can move objects with her mind, but she also has some telepathic powers." The Professor smiled encouragingly at her before continuing. "I'm hoping that you will allow me to take a look inside your mind and see if I can unlock the mystery to your past."

The girl turned this proposal over in her mind, she wanted to know who she was, but she was still a little afraid of the Professor. She absently pulled at the bandage around her fractured wrist, being careful not to bump it. Sphinx turned and looked at her,

_I think you should let him, he smells like a nice human. _

The girl thought for a moment before nodding, "Will it hurt?" she asked the Professor.

He smiled, "Not at all."

The Professor wheeled over to her and stopped so that he was facing her. He gently put his hands on either side of her head and closed his eyes. A series of images flashed inside's Xavier's own head, he knew they were her memories, but they were buried deep within her.

A young girl of around five with her parents. It was Christmas morning and they watched with big smiles on their faces as she knelt under the Christmas tree and opened her presents. She opened the biggest box to find a puppy inside. He jumped out and licked her face as she laughed.

Another memory, the girl was older. She was running outside with her puppy, which was now a dog. He was a golden retriever and they were playing together happily with a ball.

A few more years had passed, and the girl was watching her mother holding a baby in a hospital room. She grinned and asked to hold her new baby brother.

This memory was of her parents driving her and her baby brother home from the hospital. Her dog was even in the backseat barking happily. Everyone in the car was so happy, so full of life. They never saw the drunk driver fail to give way and crash headlong into them. The girl woke up moments later with a nasty gash on her head. She stumbled out of the car and saw the mangled bodies of her parents and her brother. In an instant, what had been one of the happiest moments of her life had been cruelly snatched from her. In an instant, everyone she cared about was gone. She broke down and sank to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

The last memory was of the girl running, running from the devastation behind her. She ran along the roads, barely able to see where she was going because of her tears. Cars honked at her to get off the road but she ignored them, as she found a bridge with a fast-flowing river underneath it. She stood there for a moment, sobbing, before throwing herself off, just wanting to be with her family again.

The Professor opened his eyes and removed his hands from her head. He turned away from the girl before she could see the tears on his face. He composed himself before turning back to the confused girl and Jean.

"Did you find anything?" asked the girl. She had not seen the terrible images.

The Professor was silent for a moment before answering with a quiet, "No, your past remains a mystery, however, I hope that you will be able to build a new life here, with us as your family."

The girl nodded sadly, she had been hoping for something which would give her answers.

"If you would excuse us for a moment I would like to speak to Jean in private. Perhaps you and Sphinx could go outside and find a ball."

"Okay." The girl and Sphinx got up and headed for the door, but not before the Professor stopped them.

"I did manage to find out something though. You have a telepathic ability. I will schedule for you to have lessons from either Jean or myself to help you develop this power."

The girl frowned; this meant she was a mutant after all. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. She was telepathic? The girl didn't recall hearing anyone's thoughts lately but she shrugged it off. Again, she reached for the door and opened it, but the Professor stopped her one last time.

"Welcome home, Lily."

Lily. She rolled it around in her head. It sounded just right. Lily. She grinned at the Professor, and headed out the door with a spring in her steps and Sphinx trotting at her heels.


	8. Thanking Old Friends

Lily couldn't remember how to get down to the kitchen but luckily, Sphinx could follow his nose and before long, they were entering the empty room. Lily looked around questioningly but decided it would be alright to help herself. Sphinx jumped up and sat politely at a stool facing the counter.

_I'm starving. Got anything to eat around here?_

"I'll have a look," Lily answered as she opened the fridge door and rummaged around inside. "There's ham, some leftover beef...and what looks like...well I'm not sure."

_Gimme some of that beef it smells good!_

Sphinx eagerly wagged his tail as Lily set a good slice of leftover beef on a plate in front of him. He wolfed in down whilst Lily put together a salad sandwich.

_Pah, vegetables. I don't know how you could eat that. Want some beef?_

"What? It's good. And, no thanks, I'm fine."

Lily went to stand so she could peer outside the kitchen window. She could see the woods that she had run into and spent the night in, in what seemed a long time ago.

"Want to go for a walk, Sphinx?" she asked.

He jumped down from the stool and followed her out the back door. They hurried across the manicured lawn of the school grounds and slipped into the woods without anyone noticing.

"Phew, I'm glad Rebecca's not on our case anymore." Lily said to Sphinx, he barked in agreement and trotted down a path, going further into the woods.

Lily followed, gingerly picking her way through the woods, aware that the last time she was here she had been running away from the very people who were trying to help her.

They had been walking for roughly 20 minutes and were no longer on any path known to man when Sphinx suddenly barked and bounded ahead, out of Lily's sight. She pushed aside a tree branch and called out, "Hey! Wait for me!"

_Look who I found!_

Lily walked into a small clearing and met with the sight of Sphinx greeting a pack of around seven wolves. She smiled and walked out to greet them, recognizing them as the pack who had kept her warm during her night in the woods.

_**How goes it, young one?**_Said the pack leader, an old male wolf, his grey fur streaked with white. He bore the scars of many battles, and she could tell that the other wolves remained loyal to him.

"Good." Lily knelt down so that she was on eye-level with him, with Sphinx coming to sit next to her. "I want to thank you for what you and your pack did for me the other night. If not for you, I would have been far worse."

_**You were very lucky we heard you. **_His tone was almost scolding, as a father might, yet it turned to one of amusement when he continued. _**But we did enjoy the pleasure of your company. Humans are very interesting creatures, even one such as you, pack-sister.**_

Lily smiled, "I'm glad you did find me." She reached out her hand and ran it through his fur, feeling him murmur in contentment as she scratched a spot on his back. The rest of the pack took this as a prompt to go out and sniff over their human friend, and get their ears scratched too. A few even sniffed over Sphinx, who joyfully greeted them back.

_**It is time for us to leave now, young one. **_Lily smiled and nodded, before giving him a final pat on the back. The wolf got up and he and his pack began to leave, but not before turning back for a final word. _**If you ever have need of me or my pack again, then just call for Grey-Snout, and I will come.**_

Lily bowed her head in thanks and watched them fade into the trees. "Come on, Sphinx," she said, "we should probably be heading back."

They both turned around and started heading back the way they had come. They didn't get too far, maybe a couple of minutes in the direction of the mansion when they came across a tall man leaning casually against a tree, clearly waiting for them to come back. Lily stopped suddenly, wondering whether she should be afraid or not, and considering which direction she should run in.

He was lazily chewing on a cigar, with his arms crossed over his chest. He had a strong build, and his hair was styled into a hair fashion that went out with the Stone Age, or somewhere around that time... He had on a pair of faded jeans, a white wife beater and an old motorcycle jacket. Lily slowly started to back away from him, fear in her eyes. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching where she was going and slipped on a rock, landing heavily on the ground and unluckily, on her injured arm. She cried out in pain which caused Sphinx to run over to her and whine.

_What's wrong? Is it your paw?_

Lily could barely see through the flashes of pain from her arm, as she gritted her teeth, but she did feel the strong arm that gently picked her up and set her on her feet.

"Come on, kid, let's get you back to the mansion," said the man, "I'll get Jean to have a look at that arm." His eyes seemed to light up at the prospect of seeing Dr Grey. He started walking and was practically dragging Lily along with him, not really noticing her attempts to release his vice-like grip on her arm. Finally, Sphinx decided to take action and ran out in front of the man and began barking at him.

_Hey! You! Big, ugly human! Let go of her!_

The man noticed Sphinx like he was an irritating fly, "Hey, get outta my way, fleabag!"

This did it for Lily, no one called Sphinx a fleabag.

"Hey!" she yelled at the man. "Let me GO!" She managed to successfully wrench her arm out of his grip, trying to ignore the pain in her other arm as she tried to stand her ground.

The man blinked, confused, at her. He was obviously taken aback and not used to being spoken to this way. "What's the problem, kid?" his voice had a Canadian accent and he smelled faintly of beer.

"Do NOT call Sphinx a fleabag!" she yelled, "And stop dragging me. You're hurting my arm and I can walk for myself you know!"

The man's look of surprise was quickly replaced by one of amusement, "You're a bit of a tiger, you know that?"

Lily was indignant, how dare he judge her? He didn't even know her! Turning around, she stomped off in the opposite direction, cradling her sore arm and gritting her teeth. Sphinx bared his teeth at the man before trotting off after her.

"Hey! Come on, kid," she could hear the man following behind her; she didn't reply but quickened her pace.

"Hey!" she felt his hand on her shoulder stop her and spin her around to face him. "Look, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to call your dog a fleabag." He ran his free hand through his hair. "Now will you stop walking in the wrong direction and come back to the mansion?" He seemed annoyed.

"My name's Lily, not kid," she said stiffly, "I haven't had a name for very long, so I would appreciate it if you would use it."

"What? What do you mean you 'haven't had a name for very long'?" He asked, confused.

"I mean, that well..." she trailed off, "...I couldn't remember what it was."

The man looked at her like she had two heads. "You had amnesia too?"

Lily put up her defences, "Maybe, so what if I did?"

"Nothing. Just interested, is all, kid."

_Come on, let's leave this stupid human and head back, I'm hungry!_

Lily agreed with Sphinx, the man was stupid and she was hungry too. She began walking after Sphinx as he led the way back to the mansion. Out of nowhere, the man was walking casually beside her.

"It's Logan." He said.

"What is?" Lily asked, both irritated and curious.

"My name. You never asked." Lily frowned, hadn't she? She couldn't remember, she was too busy being annoyed at him.

Then it hit her. Logan! No wonder he seemed strangely familiar, he was the man who had found her and carried her out of the woods last time she was hear. Lily felt herself begin to blush. How embarrassing! Lily didn't think she could look him in the eye anymore, or talk to him for that matter. Maybe she would just pretend to be mute for the rest of the walk back to the mansion.

_Why are you so embarrassed? He was just helping you out before, even if he is pretty stupid, for a human._

"Because, well... I just am ok?" Lily muttered to Sphinx under her breath.

"What was that?" asked Logan from just behind her.

"Nothing." She replied, walking even faster. How far away were they from the mansion anyway? Would they get there before she had to dig herself into a hole of shame?

After what seemed like long, long years of walking in absolute silence, they FINALLY arrived back at the mansion. Lily followed Sphinx through the back door and started heading back up the stairs in what she hoped was the direction of her room. But before she could get halfway up a stair, she was stopped by a strong hand on her arm, pulling her back to the ground floor.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Logan, "you need to get that arm looked at, remember?"

Lily started to feel panic rising in her chest, "No, no I don't. It feels much better now, see?" She held out her arm for him to examine and gritted her back teeth to prevent any moans of pain from escaping. Logan looked at her sceptically, wearing a 'you-didn't-think-I'd-fall-for-that-did-you?' expression. Without a word, he began dragging her in the direction of the elevator that led to the below level areas of the school.

"No! Come on! I feel fine, really I do!" she was practically begging. There was no way she was going back down into that medical room. Sphinx chased after the two of them, barking at Logan and trying to bite him in the ankle.

"You can't fool me, Lily. I know that has to be hurting." Logan said, as he accessed the hidden elevator and watched as the door opened. Lily's struggles renewed as he tried to pull her into the elevator. "Come on, kid, it's...for...your...own...good!" he grunted as she latched onto a wall with her one good arm and held on tight, refusing to let go.

Seeing that she wasn't going to give in, he grabbed her around her stomach and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold.

"Hey!" she squealed, as the doors closed and the elevator began its descent. Sphinx had made it into the elevator before the doors had shut and was still barking at Logan, now trying to take a good chunk out of his leg.

_Let go of her! I'm gonna bite you so hard you won't know what hit you!_

"It won't be that bad, kid. And tell your mutt to back off."

Lily was jolted around as he exited the elevator and walked down the cold hallway and into the medical room. She could see Sphinx following behind her, looking worried.

"Put me down!" she cried out. This was the last place she wanted to be.

A surprised Jean, looked up from a computer screen she had been reading to see Logan walk in with Lily over his shoulder and Sphinx barking madly at him, whilst trying to bite him at the same time. Logan seemed unfazed and continued to ignore Lily, and dodge Sphinx's attacks.

Lily felt her world become the right way round when Logan sat her down on the medical table. She was a little dizzy and her arm was killing her, but she would rather deal with the pain then be in here.

"What's wrong Logan? Why did you bring Lily here?" Jean was concerned.

Lily noticed that Logan looked at Jean like she was the most beautiful creature on the planet. Lily groaned inwardly, so Logan bringing her down here was only so he could get some quality time with his favourite doctor. Sphinx sat at her feet, in between Lily and Logan.

_I told you he was stupid. All humans are. Want me to bite him?_

"You need to take a look at her arm, she hurt it again. I can see that she's in pain even though she's trying to hide it." Logan told Jean.

"I am not," retorted Lily, "There's nothing wrong with my arm, it's perfectly fine. Now can I go?"

"Let me just check it out, ok?" asked Jean.

Lily debated with herself; if she let Jean have a quick look at her arm, then maybe she could be out of her faster. "Fine." She said, and held out her arm.

It turned out that falling on her arm had caused the fracture to worsen, which meant she now had to have her arm in a cast to protect it. Lily looked down at what used to be her arm, and was now a white, swollen-looking bandage.

_That's going to be annoying._

Lily gave Sphinx a 'duh' look and scooted over to the end of the medical table. Jean's back was turned, looking at a file and Logan was too busy checking Jean out. No one was watching her or Sphinx. They slowly made their way over to the door and silently crept out.

_That was too easy!_

A familiar hand came down on her shoulder and led her back into the medical room. Lily glared at Logan as he looked at her innocently.

"I just wanted to let you know before you go," Jean turned from examining the file, not even noticing that anyone had left the room, or the death glare that Lily was now giving Logan, "that you start normal school lessons tomorrow, and lessons with me will be after school has finished. Meet me in my office; I'm sure one of the other students can direct you there."

Lily groaned. Just what she needed. Lessons.

Sphinx chuckled to himself before quickly stopping when Lily directed a glare his way.

AN- Hope everyone enjoyed the longer chapter. Isn't Sphinx hilarious? Please review!


	9. First Day Nerves

Lily woke up early, at 7, the next morning. She looked at her blaring alarm clock and tried to clear her foggy and half asleep mind enough to remember why she had set it in the first place.

_Because you're going to do some learning today. _Sphinx said with a yawn.

He had been curled up asleep on the foot of her bed, after she had snuck him into her room last night. Rebecca was still asleep on the other side of the room, although Lily wondered why the alarm hadn't woken her.

Then Lily remembered she had her first day of school today.

"Great." She rolled her eyes and lay back down on her bed, attempting to go back to sleep.

Sphinx wasn't enjoying this too much to allow her to though; he walked along the bed until he was level with her face and licked it.

"Hey! Geez, I'm getting up! Alright?" Lily grumbled, pulling back the covers and walking sleepily towards the bathroom. She yawned and pulled her hand through her messy hair. Sphinx curled up in the warm patch where her body had been laying and went back to sleep while he waited for her to have a shower.

When Lily came out of the shower she saw that Rebecca was up now too.

"Morning." She gave Lily a very cheery smile, obviously a morning person. Lily attempted not to fall asleep whilst standing there. Rebecca handed her a piece of paper containing lots of coloured squares. "Here's your timetable, go grab some breakfast while I have a shower and I'll meet you in the kitchen. We have first period together." With another way-too cheery smile, she headed into the bathroom as well.

"How can anyone be remotely happy at this ungodly hour of the morning?" Lily commented to Sphinx, as he sat up.

_Rebecca, I guess. What do we have first?_

Lily glanced at her timetable, "English," she said grumpily, "Just what I need first thing on a Monday morning." 

The two headed out into the hallway and followed a few other girls down into the kitchen. No one else seemed to be a morning person, which Lily was glad for, she didn't feel like making conversation. Once they had grabbed something to eat from the fridge-an apple for Lily and some ham for Sphinx- they headed out the back door and went for a short walk around the manicured gardens. Lily felt better being outside, even if it was a slightly chilly morning. Luckily, Rebecca had lent her some more clothes, a dark blue pair of jeans, some purple converses and a red t-shirt with a purple jacket. Lily breathed in the cool morning air and caught sight of some sparrows chirping in an overhanging tree. She walked underneath it with Sphinx and listened to their beautiful voices. Upon catching sight of her, three of the sparrows flew down to examine Sphinx and the girl. Two landed on either one of Lily's shoulders, whilst a third cheekily sat on Sphinx's back.

The two on Lily's shoulders examined her curiously; _Catch any worms today human-flock? _The one sitting on her left shoulder inquired.

"No worms," Lily told the sparrow, "But I do have an apple." She held it up for them to examine.

_What tree did this come from? _The sparrow on her right shoulder asked, as they both looked at it with their beady eyes.

Lily laughed, "I don't really know. I got it from inside."

_Are there any worms in this place you call inside? Can we have some? _This was the sparrow riding on Sphinx's back. Sphinx didn't appear to mind, instead giving his little companion a ride around the area, much like a horse with a cowboy on his back.

_Speckle! _The sparrow on her right shoulder scolded. _Don't be so rude!_

_Don't get your feathers in such a ruffle, Wing _said Speckle, the sparrow riding on Sphinx's back, _I was just asking._

_Ignore Wing, human-flock _said the sparrow on her left shoulder, _He can be such a loon sometimes._

_I am not a loon, Eggs _said Wing, Lily could tell that he sounded annoyed.

_HAHA Yes you are Wing, _said Speckle, flapping his wings when he nearly lost his balance on Sphinx's back, _Good one Eggs!_

The three then flew back up into their tree, Eggs and Wing still arguing whilst Speckle laughed at Wing. Lily laughed, they were fun and she would try to remember to bring them something to eat tomorrow morning.

_Don't you have some learning to do?_

"Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder Sphinx." Lily headed back inside with Sphinx following. They met up with Rebecca in the kitchen who was munching on a piece of toast.

"Ready for your first class?" Rebecca asked in between bites of toast as they began walking to their English classroom.

"Not really," Lily shrugged, "I'd rather be outside."

They walked into the classroom to find that it was half full, there was a mixture of boys and girls, Lily didn't know most of them but she did see that girl with the white streak through her brown hair. Rebecca and Lily took a seat at the back whilst Sphinx crept under the table near Lily's feet and promptly curled up and went to sleep. Jean walked into the classroom just moments later and made sure everyone was in the class. She began the class by asking everyone to pass up an essay that was due, Lily was of course excused. Jean informed them that they would be starting a new topic and began talking about it, whilst handing out sheets. During the class Lily found it hard to concentrate. Sphinx was dreaming about food and it was starting to make her wish she'd had more than that apple for breakfast. After what seemed an extraordinary amount of time, the bell rang signalling the end of the class. Lily starred at the homework Jean had set them, due by the end of the week. Lily had no idea how she was going to get it done; she didn't even understand half of it.

_Don't worry about it; I'm sure Rebecca can help you._

Her next class was Maths with Scott, who turned out to be the guy with the red sunglasses. Lily sat in the back by herself, Rebecca was in a different subject and she didn't know anyone else. Sphinx snuck in once again and lay down, his head on his front paws, underneath her table. Scott wasted no time in getting started with the lesson and was soon intricately talking about algebra. Lily had no clue about anything that he was talking about. She sat with her head leaning on one of her hands, trying to keep up with what Scott was saying. It was lucky that he didn't call on her during the lesson because she wouldn't have been able to answer correctly. When he set them some problems to work out on their own for a part of the lesson, Lily starred confused at the page. None of it made any sense to her. After 10 minutes of getting nowhere, Lily gave up on the algebra and opted for staring out the window.

_I don't even know what algebra is but I bet it's another completely useless human thing, like vegetables._

As she was staring out the window onto the lawns, she began to feel as though someone was watching her. She turned back to the room to see a boy sitting across the other side of the class staring at her. The boy was about her age, but possibly a little older. He had jet black hair that was spiked up and deep green eyes. He was quite tall; more than 6 foot but the most startling aspect of his appearance was the jet black wings that were tucked up close to his back. Lily could see that he had cut holes in his red hoodie to make room for them. When he noticed her looking back at him, he gave her a small smile before turning back to his work.

Lily didn't hear Scott approach, "How are you going with those problems?"

Lily jumped and hurriedly tried to cover up her blank page, "Um, yeah ok."

He sat down in the empty seat next to her and leaned over to take her page, "Good. I'll mark your answers then." He frowned when he saw she hadn't answered any.

"You haven't even started, are you sure you understand everything?" Lily could hear concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She took her sheet back and pretended to be working out a problem, hoping she was doing the right thing. She didn't want anyone to take any interest in her.

"If you need any help, just ask." Scott lingered for a moment as if he wanted to say something more but he got up and walked back to the front of the class to continue with the lesson and set homework due the next day.

Lily had study periods for most of the day after Maths, although she spent her time sitting there with Sphinx under her table, starring at the problems mournfully when she tried to tackle her Maths homework and only slightly less so when she turned to English. After reading through the question and some sheets they had received, Lily found that she could write a half-decent essay.

After her study periods, Lily glanced at her timetable to find she had something on it labelled, 'Danger Room training'. Lily found Rebecca and asked her what it was.

"Danger Room training is where all of the older mutants go to learn to control and use their powers. It's down in the lower levels of the school, it's pretty cool actually, we all get to show off what we can do," Rebecca explained.

_Sounds strange._

"Yeah, it does," Lily said while they followed behind Rebecca as she led the way towards the Danger Room.

The Danger Room turned out to be a large gray room, it didn't seem very special to Lily. She stood in a corner of the room with Rebecca and Sphinx, whilst the rest of the class talked in excited voices around the room.

_When do you think we could go outside again? I wanna see if Speckle is around._

"Maybe afterwards," Lily replied quietly, frowning as she saw Logan enter the room late, wearing the same wife beater and pants, with another cigar in his mouth.

Apparently, he was the teacher for this class. Great.

"Alright kids, since this is the first time most of you have been down here, today is going to be easy," Logan took the cigar out of his mouth to continue speaking, as the class gathered around. Lily stayed with Sphinx at the back of the class, wishing she was anywhere else.

"I want everyone to tell me what they can do. Starting with you." He pointed at a small brown haired kid in the front of the class, who replied, "I can teleport."

The girl with short wavy hair next to him then said, "I can control electricity."

And so, it went around the room, the kids all had varying powers, from being able to clone themselves to controlling fire. Lily listened intently, interested in what they could do, and was slightly surprised when everyone turned around to hear what she would say.

"I, um..." she could feel their stares on her so she looked at Sphinx instead, "The Professor said I was telepathic..."

Logan stopped for a moment, noticing that Sphinx was in the room for the first time, "What is that mutt doing in here? This is a training room, not a playground! Take your dog outside!"

_Hey! Who are you calling mutt? _Sphinx bared his teeth and growled at Logan.

Lily defiantly crossed her arms and held her ground, "No."

Logan looked taken aback, "What did you say?"

Lily looked in the eyes, "I said no, Sphinx goes where I go." She could feel the class watching the two of them argue; their eyes going back and forth like spectators in a ping-pong match.

"And I said that this wasn't a playground, so take him out of here before I make you run laps!" Logan looked pissed.

"I'm leaving then." Lily stalked out of the room, with Sphinx trotting close on her heels.

_HA! We showed him. Stupid human._

"We sure did." Lily didn't want to be anywhere she couldn't take Sphinx.

The two of them made their way back up to the upper levels of the school, and from there, they went outside. Once again, it felt good to be outside, with the sun on her face and a breeze gently blowing through her long hair, Lily felt more relaxed and soon forgot about Logan and his Danger Room class.

Lily and Sphinx played with a stick they had found until they faintly heard a bell ringing, signalling the end of the school day.

"I guess it's time for us to go to Jean's office," Lily told Sphinx as they headed back inside.

It wasn't all that hard to find Jean's office when Sphinx could sniff out her scent and led them there. When they arrived Lily knocked on the door, and heard a faint, "Come in."

They entered the office, to find that it was a spacious room, although not as big as the Professor's. It contained a large desk, bookshelves, some chairs and couches, as well as various art works hanging up. Jean was sitting behind the desk, reading and grading some papers. She looked up when Lily and Sphinx came in and indicated that they sit in the chairs facing her desk. Once again, Sphinx jumped up and made himself comfortable in Lily's lap.

"How was your first day of school?" Jean asked with a kind smile.

Lily looked away, unable to meet her eyes, "It was... ok, I guess."

"I heard about what happened in your Danger Room class today, you know you can't just leave the room." Jean's tone was only slightly scolding.

Lily nodded her eyes on the floor.

"Have you been taking Sphinx with you to every class today?"

Again, Lily nodded, "I like him being with me."

"I can see that. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to either leave him in your room or outside from now on."

Lily refused to answer, determined not to show that tears were pricking her eyes.

_That's not fair, I like being around you too. Humans are interesting._

"Ok, how about we go down to the Danger Room and have a lesson in telepathy?" Jean stood up, getting ready to leave.

Lily asked in a small voice, "Can Sphinx come too? Please?"

Jean considered it for a moment before relenting, "Alright."

Jean led the way down to the lower levels of the school again, followed by Lily and Sphinx. For the second time that day, they entered the Danger Room.

"Ok, I want you to close your eyes." Lily did so.

"Now, I want you to concentrate on the noises around you. Try to block them out, one by one, until you can only hear my thoughts."

Lily tried to do so, it was really hard, Sphinx was wondering around the room, sniffing all the interesting scents and he kept telling her about them.

_This one is that stupid human. Oh, and this one is like fire!_

After attempting for 15 minutes to hear Jean's thoughts, without any success, Lily finally gave up.

"I can't do it," she said sadly.

Jean frowned, "Hmmm... but it should come naturally to you... the Professor did say you were a telepath..."

Sphinx came trotting back to Lily, and sat at her feet.

_Its ok, maybe you'll get it next time. Human thoughts are boring anyway I bet._

Lily laughed at this, "Hopefully."

Jean looked at Lily for a moment, in confusion. She looked from Sphinx to Lily and back again.

"Lily. Are you talking to Sphinx?" she asked curiously.

Lily looked at her strangely, "Umm... yes."

"And is he talking to you?"

Lily frowned at Jean, "Yes." She replied with a 'duh' tone in her voice.

Jean concentrated for a moment and then closed her eyes for a moment in deep thought. When she opened them again, she told Lily, "I've just called Scott down here; I need his help for a moment."

Scott arrived a few moments later, and Jean went to have a hushed conversation with him outside. When they returned, Scott said, "Ok, Lily, we just want to do a little test, can you tell your dog to follow me out into the hallway? I want you to stay in the Danger Room with Jean. I'm going to hold up an object to him and I want him to tell you what it is, ok?"

Lily nodded, it sounded strange to her.

_Humans and their silliness._

"Sphinx can you please follow Scott out into the hallway for a moment?" Lily asked.

_I'm going, I'm going._

Once he was out of the room, Jean said, "Ok, Lily, what is Scott showing Sphinx?"

_It's a long stick._

"A long stick," Lily told Jean.

Jean nodded, and told Scott to come back into the room with Sphinx; he was of course, holding a long stick.

"It looks like you have telepathy with animals."


	10. Black Wing Boy

Lily and Sphinx were back in their room, it was late at night and they were talking in whispers so they didn't wake up the lightly snoring Rebecca on the other side of the room. Lily was lying stretched out on her bed and Sphinx was curled up next to her.

"Did you know I was an animal telepath?"

_Well, you're talking to me aren't you?_

Lily frowned, "Yeah, well I never really thought about it, it just seemed natural..."

_So you thought everyone could hear what I was saying?_

Lily rolled her eyes at Sphinx, "No, I just never gave it a second thought, it's like breathing."

Sphinx gave her a dog grin, his tongue lolling; _At least I'm allowed to stay with you now._

Jean had spoken to the Professor and they both had agreed that Sphinx was an integral part of Lily's power, and therefore she was allowed to keep him. As long as he did his business outside and helped her with her Danger Room training of course.

_Have you got more boring lessons tomorrow?_

"Yeah, but we're going to have a personal training session in the Danger Room with Jean and Scott instead of the group one with Logan."

_Sounds exciting, at least we don't have to put up with cat-breath human._

Lily snickered at Sphinx's nickname for Logan, "Night Sphinx."

_Night Lily._

Lily settled under her covers, careful not to disturb Sphinx. Her eyes slowly closed until she drifted off into dreams of boys with black wings.

Lily had Math first thing the next morning, and took her usual seat at the back of the room. Today she was wearing a light long-sleeve tee with a green jacket over the top and jeans. Lily had also decided to wear her hair down again today. Since Sphinx was now allowed to be in the room with her, he jumped up onto the seat next to her and curled up for a nap.

Lily nervously handed up her homework from the day before when Scott came around to collect them, she was sure all her answers were wrong. Scott spent most of the lesson continuing his talk about algebra and setting them some more problems to do on their own while he marked their homework. As Lily leaned over her work attempting to figure any of them out, she glanced up from under her long hair to see a pair of beautiful deep green eyes looking at her from across the room. It was the same boy from yesterday, the one with the jet black wings. This time he gave her a crooked smile and a wink before turning back to the front of the room. Lily blushed, she was glad for once that Sphinx was asleep or he would be questioning her mercilessly. The bell rang signalling the end of another long Math lesson.

Amidst all the noise from his class scraping their chairs back and gathering up their belongings, Scott called out, "Any left over from problems from today's lesson is homework, due next lesson. Lily can you please stay back for a moment?"

Lily gulped and nervously picked up her work from the day. She trudged up to the front of the room with Sphinx on her heels and stood in front of Scott's desk.

"I wanted to have a talk with you about your homework, Lily. Do you understand the work at all?"Scott asked, not unkindly.

Lily focused on a patch of the floor and grudgingly shook her head.

"I thought that might be the case. I'm going to assign you a tutor, someone you can help you out with your homework, not just Math. It will also give you a chance to talk to someone else your own age."

Lily didn't reply, she didn't need a tutor, nor did she want one.

Scott continued despite her silence, "I'll get them to meet with you during your Study period."

Lily nodded, and took this as a dismissal; she walked out of the room with a heavy heart. She didn't want to interact with anyone her own age; she and Sphinx were just fine on their own.

_Why do you need help with your homework?_

"Because I suck at it." Lily was in a bad mood now. She stomped down the hallway, ignoring the other students.

After checking her schedule Lily found that she had Art next, and Sphinx followed his nose until he found the classroom that smelt strongly of paint. They both made it into the classroom just in time and found an empty seat. All the chairs were situated in a circle around the room, with easels and paper in front of them. Her teacher was an African-American lady with long white hair; Lily recalled seeing her before but couldn't remember where.

"To those of you who haven't met me before, my name is Storm. Welcome to Art. I would like you all to use the paints before you to paint something that means a lot to you. It could be your family, a favourite possession or a favourite place. You decide."

_I'm going to check out the rest of this room._

Lily nodded absently but her attention was on the empty paper before her. What could she paint? She didn't remember her family or her favourite possessions or her favourite place. She turned away from her paper and noticed a pair of deep green eyes on her. The boy with black wings was in this class too, sitting across the room; he gave her a wave and another crooked smile this time. Lily blushed and smiled back. She turned her attention away from him to see Sphinx sniffing around a paint cupboard. It was then that she realized that she did have a family.

Lily began mixing some colors and soon lost herself in her artwork. She painted as if in a daze, and only snapped out of it when Storm called for them to finish up. Lily blinked rapidly and wondered where had the time gone. She stretched her sore back and glanced at what she had painted. To her surprise it was a very lifelike picture of Sphinx, he was gazing at her with his head cocked to one side.

The real Sphinx jumped up on her lap, _Hey, is that me? I look pretty good._

"Yeah," Lily whispered, "Maybe I was good at Art or something."

Storm then announced that they would all take a walk around the room and see what everyone else had painted. Lily saw paintings of families, beaches, even some teddy bears from one girl. She noticed that black-winged boy's was of the open sky with a forest stretching out beneath. It was pretty good too.

Storm was standing in front of her painting when Lily made it back to her seat, "This is wonderful Lily, where did you learn to paint like this?"

Lily shrugged, "I don't know, I can't remember."

"Well then you must be a natural." Storm replied before walking to the next person's work.

Lily smiled; she could tell she was going to like Art. It seemed to be something that she was good at, maybe something she had always been good at. Lily felt as though she had regained a part of herself; it helped to fill the empty void that she carried around inside.

The bell rang and the art students began filling out of the classroom, Storm stopped Lily before she could get out the door and handed her a black book.

"What's this for?" asked Lily with a confused look.

"It's for you. Whenever you feel like it, just draw something. You never know, maybe it will help your memory."

"Wow. Thanks." Lily looked at the book with a new kind of awe as she walked out of the classroom.

_Let's go outside, can you do your boring work out there?_

"Yeah, ok," Lily absently followed Sphinx outside, not really concentrating on where she was going.

She sat under the tree that was home to Eggs, Wing and Speckle. She could feel them somewhere in the distance but tuned out their chattering. Sphinx went off to explore the vast gardens of the mansion while Lily rested her back against the tree. She got out the book that Storm had given her and found a pencil. She leaned her head back against the trunk of the shady tree and closed her eyes. Clearing her mind she tried the technique that Jean had been trying to teach her the day before but instead of focusing on a human mind, Lily focused on Sphinx's.

In a heartbeat it felt like she was there with him. He was roaming the gardens with his nose to the ground. His sensitive nose was breathing in all the scents around him, from the plants to the mutant students who had walked past earlier that day. Every scent that came through his nose gave him a picture in his mind of the object or person that had made it and all the scents were interesting.

Lily opened her eyes and looked down at her empty page. She began sketching idly, thinking of the wolf pack.

"Hey, that's pretty good."

Lily jumped; she had been lost in her drawing and didn't even recall the time passing by. She looked up to find herself staring deeply into a pair of beautiful green eyes.

The boy with black wings gave her a crooked smile, "Also doesn't look like Math homework."

Lily looked startled; "Oh..." she looked down at her drawing and saw a beautiful rendition of the scene where Sphinx and the leader of the wolf pack had been touching noses when they first met. It was detailed and very life-like.

Quickly closing her drawing pad, she got to her feet, "Sorry, I was getting to it."

When she stood, Lily realized how close they were standing to each other, although she had to crane her neck up to look at him, she hadn't realized just how tall he was. But he was really hot, his jet black hair was spiked up again and he was wearing the same red hoodie. His green eyes were mesmerizing though and she took a quick step back before she stared at them for too much longer.

"Hey, no biggie. That's what I'm here for, right?" He said with a shrug.

Lily knitted her eyebrows together in confusion, "What do you mean?"

He grinned, "I'm your new tutor. I'm Will, by the way."

"Lily." She replied in a small voice.

Lily wished the ground would swallow her whole, or the Logan would come out and kill her for walking out on her Danger Room class the other day. Why did the hot guy in her class have to be her tutor? Couldn't it have been anyone else? Now he was going to know how stupid she was for not understanding algebra and needing a tutor in the first place. She was absolutely mortified.

_What's going on? Who's the bird kid?_

Sphinx had come bounding up, returning in a hurry from his exploration of the grounds. Now he stood in front of Lily in between her and Will.

"It's ok Sphinx, this is Will. My tutor." Now he was going to think she was loony for talking to a dog.

"Is this your dog?" Will asked Lily, as he bent on one knee and held out his hand to Sphinx, "Here, boy."Cautiously, Sphinx sniffed the outstretched hand before submitting to a scratch behind the ears.

_Maybe he's not that bad, he does know how to scratch behind a dog's ears!_

"Erm... yeah. He's kind of mine, I mean; he adopted me in a way." Lily stuttered.

"That's cool. Wish I had a dog." Will said wistfully, "Hey, how come the Professor let you keep him?" He looked up at her questioningly.

"Because of my power I guess," Lily figured that looking at Sphinx was the safest option, those deep green eyes were having an effect on her, "I'm an animal telepath. Although Jean said the more correct term was animal empathic communication because I can apparently go beyond reading their thoughts." Lily blushed; she hadn't meant to babble, it had all kind of slipped out.

"Wow, that's really awesome, Will said, "Two guesses what my mutation is." He folded his wings out to their fullest and gently flapped them.

Lily gazed at them in awe, they were beautiful and so big, and she guessed that his wingspan was around 15 feet.

Will folded his wings back in, "Anyway, we should get to that Math homework." He pulled his lanky frame to the ground where she had been sitting moments before, and patted the ground next to him. "What do you say?"

Lily nodded and shakily and slid to the ground next to him.

It turned out Will was a really great tutor; he knew how to explain things so you could understand them. Although Lily had to struggle to concentrate on the Math and not on her hot tutor, it wasn't easy. She was almost grateful when their Study period was over and it was time to go to her private training session with Jean and Scott.

Lily awkwardly got up from her position next to Will, "I guess I'll see you in Math on Thursday."

Will nodded, "Don't forget I'll see you during Study tomorrow. We'll work on some English, ok?"

Lily smiled back at him before heading back inside and towards Jean's office.

_So do you like him?_

"Sphinx!" she said, and could feel a blush creeping up her face.

_Well do you?_

Lily avoided looking at him, pretending to be busy knocking on Jean's door, "No," she said softly and with absolutely no conviction.


	11. A Dog's Story

**Thanks to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, favourite-ing and story altering my fic. I love you guys! Also, if anyone is interested in reading an AMAZING X-men fic I highly recommend Magnira's 'Come Together'. It's about four high-school teenagers who discover they have abilities yet are all very different. I urge you to check it out, you won't regret it! **

_Lily was dreaming. In her dream, she had beautiful golden wings. She was soaring high above the earth, drifting on the currents. Forests and rivers stretched out far beneath her, as far as the eye could see. Flapping her wings lazily, she wheeled around and let out a high pitched sound, watching as the sun rose, bathing the sky in breath-taking shades of pink and gold. _

Lily awoke slowly, and wondered why her alarm clock hadn't gone off yet. Bleary-eyed she sat up and patted her hand around on the ground looking for her alarm clock. Not finding it there Lily looked around and did a quick double take whilst rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She looked around again, and to her surprise, found she was lying on the ground in a forest.

"Wait... what?" she said to herself. She could see the light of dawn making its way through the dense branches, and wrapped her arms around herself as she was dressed only in her pyjamas.

'How on earth did I end up here?' she thought. Standing up and brushing herself down, Lily removed leaves and clumps of dirt that were sticking to her. When she ran her hands through her messy hair, they came away with a beautiful golden feather in them. Lily absently twirled it around in her fingers, struggling to come up with a conclusion.

Deciding that she had better try and find her way back to the mansion, Lily started walking in the direction of the sun, hoping it was the right way.

'Maybe I sleep walk.' She thought to herself.

Lily had been walking for around an hour when she heard crunching noises in the distance. Although as she continued they became increasingly louder, Lily was confused as to what they were until she heard a _woof _of joy and Sphinx came bounding out of the undergrowth.

_There you are! _He said, jumping up and licking her face, as she knelt to give him a warm hug.

"Sphinx! I'm so glad to see you!" Lily said.

_I knew I'd find you. I missed you so much. Next time you decide to go out in the middle of the night, take me with you, ok?_

"Was I sleep walking Sphinx? I don't remember how I got out here." Lily asked him.

_I don't know, I woke up this morning and you were gone._

As Sphinx led Lily back to the mansion, which he said was only about 20 minutes away; Lily was still trying to figure out how she had slept walked so far.

"How did you find me anyway Sphinx? Did you follow my scent out here?" Lily asked.

_I couldn't find your scent. So I found you the way I did the other time._

Lily frowned, "What do you mean? What other time?"

_When you called out to me. I heard you from miles away. We all did. _

Lily stopped walking and stared at Sphinx, "What? Who are you talking about?"

Sphinx stopped as well and came to sit at Lily's feet, _I'll show you, close your eyes._

She did so, and found herself connected to Sphinx almost immediately. _This was the first time I met you, you were sleeping at the time._

Lily felt herself diving into one of Sphinx's memories, one before they had met.

_**Lily opened her eyes and found the entire world was black and white. And on ground level. She realised she was looking through Sphinx's eyes. He was wandering around the streets of what she guessed was New York. It was the middle of the night and Sphinx was hunting for scraps. He walked into an alleyway and found an open bin, there was some bread in there, which Sphinx wolfed down. Licking his chops, Sphinx continued down the alleyway, using his nose to hunt for more food. **_

_**Out of nowhere, he heard a voice echo in his head, "Please someone, anyone, help me!" He pricked his ears up, the voice sounded like it was in trouble. Sphinx looked around and saw a white sparkling trail that he knew would lead him to the voice. Instantly, he turned around and raced out of the alley. Sphinx ran down the middle of the deserted street, his paws pounding the road. He was soon joined by two other stray dogs, a large Doberman and another terrier, as well as four alleycats of varying colours and breeds. The unusual group bounded down the streets, making turns and taking shortcuts before they reached an alley where a young human girl was lying on the ground. She wasn't moving. Sphinx whimpered and sniffed her. He could tell she was still alive. The alleycats formed a protective barrier around the human girl, whilst Sphinx and the other two dogs guarded the entrance to the alley. **_

_**It was only a few minutes later when they heard sounds of a large human vehicle coming from the sky. The cats scattered instantly, and Sphinx sniffed at them, aware that they were his natural enemy. When the human's flying machine landed in the middle of the road, the other two dogs too left, content that their job was now done. Only Sphinx remained behind, he melted into some shadows as a large man who smelt like smoke and a woman with white hair entered the alley. Even though Sphinx had never met them, he was sure they would look after the human girl. He watched as they found her on the ground and as the man lifted her up gently and carried her into the machine. **_

Lily found herself in her own body once again, she was still in the forest, but it felt as though a lifetime had passed.

"I didn't know you could do that," she said to Sphinx, who was still sitting at her feet.

_Of course I can, and you can too if you learnt how._

Lily seemed puzzled, "That...sparkling white trail that you saw...that's how you found me?"

_Yes._

"But...what is it? And why are we connected?"

_I don't know. I'm just glad we are. Everything is much more interesting when you're around._

Sphinx gaveher another toothy dog grin before turning around and continuing to lead her back to the mansion.

"Will you teach me how to see memories? And how to see that trail?"

_Only if you make me something to eat when we get back._

Lily laughed, "Ok."

The walk back to the mansion did not take much longer, and soon Lily and Sphinx were walking towards the back door and the kitchens. Thankfully, it was still early and not many students or teachers were yet awake to see Lily walking around in her pyjamas. After making Sphinx something to eat, Lily quickly made her way back to her room. Trying to open the door quietly so she wouldn't wake Rebecca, Lily snuck inside and turned around to shut the door.

"Oh, hey! Where have you been?" came a voice from behind her.

Lily quickly turned around, trying not to look any more suspicious than she already did. "Oh, I was err... just taking Sphinx outside."

"In your pyjamas?" Rebecca questioned, looking puzzled.

"Er... yes, well he had to go..." Lily made a break for the bathroom before Rebecca could ask her anything else; "I'll see you in Biology!" she called behind her.

After a quick shower and a change into clothes that weren't her pyjamas nor smelt like damp earth, Lily made her way towards her Biology classroom, getting directions from some other students because Sphinx was still in the kitchen. However, when she arrived he was waiting for her outside the door, getting pats and scratches behind his ears from some of her Biology classmates.

Lily rolled her eyes at him, "Leaving me for someone better?" she said with a grin.

_I just couldn't pass up a good scratch behind the ears, it's my one weakness. _

"One weakness?" Lily snorted, "What about ham sandwiches?"

Sphinx laughed inside but chose not to comment.

Rebecca arrived at the same time Storm did, who happened to be their Biology teacher. After getting the class settled, Storm started talking about life cycles and frogs... at which point Lily tuned out. She couldn't help but be distracted. Rebecca was drawing on her notebook and Sphinx was deep in thought, but she couldn't tell what about.

Lily decided that she might as well try to focus on what Storm was talking about considering she was such a nice teacher. With a sigh, Lily put her elbow on the desk and put her chin in her hand, watching as Storm got out a small portable glass tank, containing several frogs as well as gravel, plenty of leaves and water. She encouraged the students to come up and take a closer look inside the tank, many students took this as an opportunity to leave their desks and stretch their legs. Lily, although very much wanting to take a closer look as well, instead decided to remain in her seat and talk to Sphinx.

"So... how can I see that sparkling white trail? Is it still there?" Lily asked him.

_It's always there, _Sphinx replied hopping up onto her lap, _close your eyes and try to imagine your connection to me. It's what you use to hear me speaking; you just have to see it. _

Lily tried, she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind trying to find her connection to Sphinx. When she opened it again, she could see it, but it was a beautiful sparkling golden colour which lead from her body to Sphinx's.

_Now you'll always be able to find me._ Sphinx gave her a doggy grin and settled in her lap.

Lily looked around her with amazement. Sphinx's golden trail wasn't the only one running from her, there was a strong red one leading in the direction of the woods as well as some smaller blue ones which went in the direction of the kitchen. She wondered what those meant. Very slowly, a thin green one appeared, she followed the trail back to the front of the room and saw that it connected her to the frog tank.

Lily opened her mind to the green connection and found that she could hear the frogs' thoughts.

**Humans. Many. Staring. Staring. Hide. Hide. **

She felt the frogs hop under some leaves, trying to get away from the students crowding around their tank.

Lily felt sorry for the frogs, they were obviously scared.

"Hey," she called out to her classmates at the front of the room, who, surprised that she was speaking to them, turned around to listen.

"Stop doing that, you're scaring them." Lily was uncomfortable under their gazes, but Storm jumped in to back her up.

"Yes, maybe we should do this one at a time. Jean tells me Lily has animal empathic communication, which means she can probably hear what these frogs are thinking."

Many of the students went back to their desks, glancing back at Lily every now and again, which only made her feel more uncomfortable. She couldn't wait for the class to be over and breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang.

Hurrying out of Biology, Lily consulted her schedule to find that she had P.E next. She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. At least it was outside, she noticed.

Heading back to her room, Lily changed into some borrowed track pants and a light green tank top, wondering what this class would be like. She and Sphinx headed outside to where they could see a group of students gathered. They were all similarly attired so she assumed she was in the right place. Many of them were gathered together in groups, but Lily spotted one red top that stood out because it had black wings poking out of it. Catching Will's gaze on her she looked down quickly, hoping he hadn't noticed her staring at him. Lily quickly glanced up in his direction and noticed Will had a grin on his face and was making his way in her direction. However, before he got far, the class was interrupted by Logan approaching them and clearing his throat loudly.

"Alright, enough with the gasbagging, everyone warm up and give me 20 laps around the school. First one to finish only has to do 19 next time."

Amidst groans from the students, Logan settled down on a nearby bench with a newspaper and motioned for them to get started.

Lily sighed, today was not her day. First she woke to find herself in the middle of nowhere, then everyone had to stare at her in Biology and now she was being subjected to a P.E class from hell.

"Want to stay here, Sphinx?" she asked, glancing down at him.

_Definitely. There's some good smells coming from over by that tree and I think Speckle is around here somewhere. _

"No fair," Lily huffed as Sphinx trotted off in search of some good smells.

Turning around, Lily noticed that the rest of her classmates had already begun their first lap and she was becoming further and further behind as she watched.

Lily was already on her third lap when her arm began to ache. It was already sore from being in a cast but the run was continually jolting it. Stopping for a moment so she could adjust it, Lily noticed that someone was coming up behind her. Turning, she came face to face with Will, who was grinning again and not even slightly out of breath.

"Stopping already?" He teased.

Lily blushed, "Just for a sec."

The two stepped aside so a pack of their fellow students could jog past them and then continued on the track together.

"Is this what every P.E lesson is going to be like?" Lily asked Will.

"Pretty much, occasionally Logan makes us run through the forest whilst he picks us off one by one. He calls it 'training' but I think he just likes the look of fear in our eyes," said Will.

Lily groaned, "Just what I need. At least you could fly away if you wanted, I'd be a sitting duck."

"Not if you had Sphinx and knew some self-defence."

Somehow Will managed to wink at Lily whilst running, which made her chest flutter.

"Maybe."

Lily was deep in thought for the rest of the gruelling run around the mansion. Reaching the end of her laps, she saw many of the other students were either throwing up in the bushes or were lying sprawled on the grass. Thank god she hadn't had anything to eat lately.

Logan twitched aside his newspaper and looked at them, "Oh, I'd forgotten about you lot. Get inside and hit the showers."

After lunch, Lily had another study session with Will, again under the same tree, which felt like a very comfortable spot to Lily. She liked how the branches twisted out and covered the sky like a soothing blanket.

"Ready for some homework?" said a voice from somewhere above Lily.

Lily looked up and got a shock, Will was sitting on one of the higher up branches of the tree, his wings just slightly out. He jumped down, clearly not affected by the distance and landed neatly on the ground in front of Lily.

"What were you doing up there?"

"Oh, you know, hanging around." Will joked with a wink, "Nah, I was out stretching my wings before our study session."

Lily nodded whilst Will slowly pulled his wings in closer to his back.

"I would love to be able to fly, I bet it's wonderful." Lily said longingly.

"I'll have to take you up sometime then." Will said, before settling down next to Lily and getting started on her Biology homework.

That night, as Lily and Sphinx settled down for bed, Lily once more closed her eyes and visualized the invisible thread that tied her to Sphinx. Opening her eyes, Lily could see the golden one that connected her to Sphinx, and the green one that went to the frog tank down in the Biology lab, but she wondered where the thin blue ones and the strong red one went.

'I might have to follow them sometime,' she thought.

"Sphinx."

He opened one sleepy dog eye and looked at her.

_Yes?_

"Can you show me another memory?"

Sphinx closed his eye again, _Of course._

Closing her eyes, Lily once more found herself in dog form, with the world in black and white.

_**Sphinx sat by himself in the alley. The strange humans in their flying machine had just taken the sleeping human with them not long before. Sphinx was wondering what he should do now. He had really liked that human, there was something different about her, something good. **_

_**Concentrating, he could still see that silver thread that had lead him here, except it now went in another direction, the same one that the flying machine had taken. Maybe he would just go see if she was ok.**_

_**Trotting along, Sphinx followed the thread for three days, occasionally stopping for food and water. He kept away from other humans, keeping to the shadows and only travelling at night, but eventually, he found his way to a large human building, which is where his thread ended. Squeezing through the bars of the gate at the front, he trotted down the human path, towards the building. Sphinx took a large sniff and realised that he could smell delicious food. Following his nose, he came across a closed door, with the delicious smell on the other side.**_

_**If only he was human! Sphinx mourned, he would be able to open the door and eat those delicious smells. Sphinx could see a lot of strange human children running around, and they made him nervous so he crept underneath a bench near the door of delicious smells and waited. **_

_I believe you know the rest of that story_, Sphinx said sleepily.

"Thanks, Sphinx." Lily said, "Thank you for following me."

**I know! I finally reached the end of this chapter! I've been writing this for so long, I hope it didn't disappoint! Stay tuned for the next chapter, I know all of you are dying to see what happens next with a certain boy... :D**


	12. View from Above

**Hi everyone! Yes, I know it's been about a billion years since I've updated this fic. Apologies. I want to give a big thank you to all my fantastic supporters; each and every review absolutely makes my day. Also, please check out my other X-Men fic 'Second Time's the Charm' which I have updated recently, and my brand new TMNT fic called 'When all Hope seems lost'.**

That night Lily had another dream where she was soaring high above the world. She wheeled and flapped, spotting a large, grey human building below her. Her sharp eyes saw a small black dog sitting on the grass watching her with keen interest.

_Lily._

A familiar voice broke into her thoughts and it brought focus to her dreamy mind.

_Lily. Wake up._

She slowly descended towards the ground-dweller, wings flapping-

_Lily!_

Lily awoke with a start, blinking furiously and trying to shake off her weird dream. A warm, rough tongue began washing her face and she sleepily petted Sphinx, "What's going on?"

_Finally, I thought I was going to have to bite you or something._

Lily lifted her head and found herself to be lying face down in the grass outside the school. "What... How did I get here?"

_Not sure. Let's go get something to eat._

Lily slowly picked herself off the grass, glad that it was a little before dawn and no one was around to see her lying on the lawn in her pyjamas. She followed Sphinx into the kitchen to find the guy she thought was called Bobby sitting in the kitchen drinking a coffee.

"Oh... umm..."she stopped suddenly, inwardly cringing and tried to smooth down the rat's nest others might call hair.

"Hey," Bobby said, suppressing a grin at her appearance, "Trouble sleeping?"

"Um, well, you could say that," Lily replied.

"If it's really bad there's a mutant here called Morpheus, he can put people to sleep, influence and create dreams, stuff like that. You could go see him."

"Morpheus?" Lily asked, "Isn't that kind of a weird name?"

"It's his mutant name. His real name is George, I think."

"Mutant name?" now Lily was even more confused than ever.

"Yeah, you know. Like Wolverine or Cyclops. They're like superhero names. Only way more awesome," Bobby grinned, "I'm Iceman by the way."

"Oh," Lily said, "Um, that's cool. Nice to meet you I guess."

_Come on, this is boring!_ Sphinx huffed impatiently.

Lily looked to see Sphinx lying on the ground with his head between his paws, "Ok, I'm coming."

She said goodbye to Bobby and went back to her room, not looking forward to another boring day of school.

It wasn't until Phys Ed class that Lily saw Will again. Sphinx had opted to stay in her room and take a nap. She was kneeling down retying a shoelace when a pair of black sneakers came to rest in front of her. She tilted her head to see his trademark black t-shirt and a pair of running shorts.

"Hey," he said as she stood, "How's it going?"

"Not too bad," Lily said shyly, "Then again, we haven't started the class yet, so that might change."

He laughed and she loved the sound of it and the way his grin reached his beautiful green eyes, "True. Logan isn't known for his sparkling attitude."

Lily giggled, and then wondered why she found that so funny. Before she could ponder the thought too much, Logan blew a whistle loudly from behind her and the class stopped chatting and gathered around him.

"Ok kids. Today we play hide and seek. Everyone has ten minutes to get into the forest. If you survive by the time the bell rings for lunch you won't have to do a lap afterwards."

Logan blew his whistle again, "Ok, go!"

The whole class took off like the wind, running into the forest as fast as their legs could carry them. Lily, who was still standing there confused as to why they were playing a child's game and taking it so seriosuly, found that Will had grabbed her hand and was dragging her behind him into the forest.

"Hey," she protested, "What's going on?"

"This isn't regular hide and seek," he called back, not slowing his pace, "Wolverine is it! You definitely do not want him to catch you. Powers are allowed. No maiming though."

Lily laughed, until she realised he wasn't joking, "Are you serious? What could I do to him? All I can do is talk to a few animals!"

"Don't worry," Will said, stopping and looking around, "I'll look after you."

Lily's heart nearly skipped a beat and she tried to hide the blush creeping into her cheeks, "Thanks," she said quietly.

Will's grinned at her and winked, which nearly made her heart skip another beat, "It's my pleasure."

He came to a stop in front of a giant oak tree and turned back to her, "This is it. You're not scared of heights are you?"

Lily frowned, "Um, I'm not sure, I don't think so. Why?"

Will stepped right up to her, they were face to face, noses nearly touching, "Hold on," he whispered and snapped open his midnight black wings. Their amazing wingspan was nearly more awing than the sight of Will himself. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and she did the same, biting her lip. With a powerful downstroke, Will lifted the two of them off the ground and into the air. Lily gasped as he continued propelling them higher and higher until they were above the tree canopy. The view was breathtaking. Will descended a little until they alighted on a large branch of the oak tree and leaned against the trunk.

"Beautiful isn't it?" he asked.

Lily could barely speak, she just nodded.


End file.
